I Wish I Knew
by Unoriginality
Summary: From Majora's Mask, Link wanders around Termina Field with Tatl and angsts for a bit, complains a lot about being ignorant


_Disclaimer:_Meesa no own dese guys, dey b'long ta Nintendo. Meesa likes dem, dough, so I play wit' dem. 

**_I Wish I Knew_**   
_By: Unoriginality_

I envy them, as I watch them, embracing as they are reunited. I know how Anju feels, to be unsure of the whereabouts of someone you care about, unsure if they're okay, or if they're even alive. I know what it's like to see them again, different from as you remember them. 

But, unlike them, I don't know what it's like to be in love. 

I think I almost did, once, as I watch Anju and Kafei embrace. I remember bandages and scraps of cloth that had for seven long years covered her young, beautiful face stripped away. I remember how my heart had soared at looking into her deep blue eyes once again. 

"Please get to safety," Anju begs me. 

"We shall remain here and greet the morning... together," Kafei adds. My heart bleeds for them. They're going to die, and they know it. 

I envy them. I wish I knew love like that. 

I clutch the mask they gave me tightly and pull out my ocarina. In just an hour that moon overhead will crash into this world and these two- as well as everyone here- will die. That destruction will likely spread to Hyrule and destroy the one thing I was born to protect: The gate to the Sacred Realm. 

My ocarina meets my lips, however, and the Song of Time echoes to the ears of the Goddess of Time. She heeds my call and sends me back to the moment I set foot in Termina. Three days ago. I look around the town, the workers rushing to meet the three day deadline, Kafei, Keaton mask still covering his face, mailing his first letter to Anju in months. 

Back to Day 1, 72 hours remain. Nothing has changed for these people. I tuck the Couple's Mask away and wonder idly where to go now. I SHOULD go into the canyon and get started there, but I can't quite convince myself to. To me, I've been awake for nearly two weeks now, and that's about my limit as to how long I can stay awake. Tatl will protest, of course, she's so worried about her brother that she can't stand the thought of wasting any time at all. 

Well, Tatl is just going to have to tough it. I need my sleep...but most of all I think I just need a break... some time off to think. 

I wander around Termina Field with Epona and Tatl for awhile, silently contemplating- not for the first time- what I have sacrificed for my role in history as the Hero of Time. 

"Link!" Tatl shouts at me. "What are we doing? We have to get a move on! We're wasting time!" I smile. Somehow I imagine that Navi had been just like Tatl in her younger days. 

"We've got nothing BUT time, Tatl," I assure her. "I just need a break." 

"But Tael...!" 

"Will be fine," I interrupt. 

I wish I knew what it was like to have a family. I had Saria for so short a time.... I lost her when I was only 10 the fist time. 

I sound like an old warrior talking about the War of the Knights of Old and their epic battle against Mandrag Gannon. I'm only 13. I feel about 30. Farore, I wish I knew what it felt like to feel my real age. When I awoke from my 7 years sleep, I was a 10 year-old trapped in the body of a 17 year-old. When Zelda returned me to my original time, I was a 17 year-old trapped in the body of a 10 year-old. Now I feel even older. 

"Link, you're like, spacing," Tatl interrupts my thoughts, a hint of concern peeking through in her voice. I glance up at her. 

"Was I?" I shrug it way. "Sorry." Tatl zips in front of Epona, startling the poor thing, once again throwing me from her back. "Oooh, Nayru's Love," I mutter, rubbing my aching backside. "Tatl, what the hell was that for?" 

"Wake up!" she shouts in my ear. I scowl. "Something's bothering you. What is it?" 

"Nothing!" I protest, not willing to discuss what's really on my mind with her. She looks at me with pleading scorn. So much like Navi it's scary. "Just thinking." 

"About what?" 

"Just the past, just passing the time until I find a place for us to crash for a few days." 

"Your past?" I refuse to answer for a moment, settling Epona down and remounting her. 

"You remember how you'd asked if I'd done this before?" 

"Have you?" I nod. 

"Once, although history will never show it." 

"Did you find some of the mushrooms that Kotake likes?" I laugh. I suppose I DO sound a little odd. 

"No, it involved time travel." That she understands. "Have you ever heard of Princess Zelda of Hyrule?" 

"Of course I have! I'm not backwater just because I come from Termina! The Skull Kid took us to Hyrule all the time!" I nod. 

"Zelda is an old friend of mine. She and I go further back than even she knows. We tried to protect the Triforce-" 

"The Triforce? I thought that was just a legend!" I shake my head and laugh. 

"No, it's real all right...I held a part of it in my body." Her little eyes widen to the size of half her face. "We were trying to protect it from someone...that was our destiny after all as the the Seventh Sage and the Hero of Time." I sigh and hop off of Epona, settling down on one of the the discarded blankets on the beach. I regard her silently for a moment, the poor thing flashing hot red under my unwavering stare. "Do I sound crazy?" Relieved for a break in the silence, Tatl quickly shakes her head no. 

"Of course not!" I smile. 

"We were only trying to protect it, protect a powerful and sacred relic from evil... that's the right thing to do, right?" I turn to her, waiting for a response. 

"Right!" she quickly agrees. I stare out at the ocean. 

"Right...but we screwed up. We brought all the keys together, opened the Door of Time, only to find one last key. We figured we'd beat Ganondorf to the Triforce...I didn't expect him to follow me to the Temple...so when I pulled the Master Sword- the last key- he got in. I couldn't beat him to it...I had been too young to be the true Hero of Time. So I was forced into a seven year sleep. When I awoke, Ganondorf had practically destroyed Hyrule. I needed the power of the sages to defeat him, he had a piece of the Triforce, and I had no way of defeating him otherwise. 

"When it was all over, Zelda thought it would be best if I returned to my original time to prevent this all from happening..." I laugh nervously and turn to gage Tatl's reaction. "Do you believe me?" She is silent for a moment, absorbing the immensity of my story. 

"You've been through a lot, it sounds like. So why do you try to save Termina? It's certainly not your responsibility." I sigh and once again focus on the endless, sparkling ocean. We don't have anything like that in Hyrule. I wish Zelda could see this. 

"It's not in my nature to leave these people to just die by the hand of an innocent vessel." I sigh again. "I just can't leave 'em...not when I can help." The fact, of course, that most of these people look just like friends of mine from Hyrule has no the slightest affect on that decision. 

I spread myself out on the blanket and close my eyes. Tatl takes the hint, apparently and curls up in a particularly soft spot on my hat and soon I can hear her tiny little snores. I resist the urge to chuckle and let out a deep breath instead. 

I wish I knew what it was like to be a normal boy. I never will though, so really, no use complaining. 

I often wonder what my life would've been like if I had grown up a normal boy. If I'd been part of a family instead of an orphan. Hell, I would've just been starting my training with a sword, not had mastered the damn thing at age 10. 

The subject of family, of course, makes me wish I knew who mine had been. I know that my mother took the chance of entering the forbidden forest so that I had a chance to live during the war. I know she loved me. That's all I know. 

I don't remember her, I couldn't have been any older than a baby. I wish for the life of me I at least knew who she was, that woman who gave her life to protect mine. And people wonder where I get it. 

I suppose the Kokiri were my family, the eternal children that survived on their own, hidden away from the rest of the world. But, as I remember my time there, I was an outcast, I didn't belong. That's not family. 

I wish I knew what it was like to truly belong somewhere. 

I open my eyes again, staring up at the clear blue Termina sky, the same sky that blankets Hyrule. I haven't slept yet, and already I'm restless. As I lay here and think about it, I realize that I do have a family, and I do belong somewhere. 

These people who need me; my family, and anywhere that I'm needed; where I belong. 

Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself. Maybe I'm just trying to quiet my raving mind so I can sleep. Maybe I'm still thinking about what Tatl said. She's right these people AREN'T my responsibility. 

But I can't just leave them to die. That's not who I am. Or maybe I just don't know who I am. 

I wish I knew. 


End file.
